


Relief on the riverbank

by Smowkie



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Married Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Merpeople
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 06:11:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17441432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smowkie/pseuds/Smowkie
Summary: Derek reached forward and took Stiles’ hand in his, pressed a kiss to it, and Stiles smiled at him.”Hi, hubby,” he said and Derek couldn’t help but grin.”Hey, hubby.”They both looked down on their hands, at their wedding rings they had only worn for a few days, then Stiles awkwardly leaned back so he could kiss Derek. The boat wobbled precariously and he pulled back quickly, then they sat there smiling at each other like the lovesick idiots they were.”Love you,” Stiles said, just as the water stirred next to the boat.Derek frowned at it, then a webbed and scaly hand came up and grabbed the side of the boat and pulled down, hard.Written for the kissing promptBy the river + Relief.





	Relief on the riverbank

**Author's Note:**

  * For [novemberhush](https://archiveofourown.org/users/novemberhush/gifts).



> Dee asked for _By the river + Relief_ from [the kissing prompt list](http://sterekshaven.tumblr.com/post/182011337012). This, uh, has a scary mermaid? It’s not too bad, but just to warn. The mermaid is scary. Killery-scary. There. Anyway, here, have some newly married Sterek being sweet together! I hope you like it! ♥
> 
> Thank you [Jessie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rieraclaelin) for looking this over for me!! ♥
> 
> ([on tumblr](http://sterekshaven.tumblr.com/post/182060669792))

The tiny little boat they were in - it was a canoe, Derek knew it was a canoe, but it was still a boat - was slowly drifting with the stream of the river. It was slow going, but neither of them moved their paddle, they just sat there and enjoyed the calm and the view.

”This makes me want to move, find a house by a river somewhere,” Stiles said.

”Yeah,” Derek said. It was beautiful and serene and just plain _nice_.

It was a big river, wide and deep, but the part they were on was slow, just what they wanted. The place that rented them the boat had given them a few options, including more adrenaline-inducing ones with waterfalls and what not, but they just wanted something easy and calm. They got enough adrenaline rushes in their lives, they didn’t need to go look for them.

They were slowly approaching a dam, they would have to get out of the boat and carry it to the other side of the little power plant, but the dam was big and with how slow they were going they still had plenty of time to just sit and enjoy themselves. Derek reached forward and took Stiles’ hand in his, pressed a kiss to it, and Stiles smiled at him.

”Hi, hubby,” he said and Derek couldn’t help but grin.

”Hey, hubby.”

They both looked down on their hands, at their wedding rings they had only worn for a few days, then Stiles awkwardly leaned back so he could kiss Derek. The boat wobbled precariously and he pulled back quickly, then they sat there smiling at each other like the lovesick idiots they were.

”Love you,” Stiles said, just as the water stirred next to the boat.

Derek frowned at it, then a webbed and scaly hand came up and grabbed the side of the boat and pulled down, hard. Stiles yelped as the boat tipped, and Derek tried to grab him, but the next thing he knew they were both in the water.

Stiles sputtered as he surfaced. ”What the _fuck_ was that?” he asked, but before Derek could answer Stiles yelped again and his eyes grew wide with fear as he was pulled down.

Derek dove into the water, tried to see anything, his sense of smell was to no use and his hearing mostly confusing under water. He saw movement, something red, and he hoped it was Stiles’ hoodie as he dove after it. He swam as fast as he could, but the red disappeared almost immediately, and he wanted to howl in frustration and fear. He kept swimming though, down, towards where he thought it had gone.

His lungs were burning for air in no time, but he kept swimming, kept searching, and then he saw a glimpse of red again. He forced himself closer, close enough to grab it, and he was faced with a panicked looking Stiles. Pushing up hard he pulled them towards the surface, but then Stiles was tugged down again.

Derek didn’t let go, and as they were being pulled down he dove deeper, to the thing holding Stiles. There were black eyes, a mouth full of needle-thin and sharp teeth, shimmering scales, and Derek swung a clawed hand through the water.

He hit the creature, only for it to claw him back. The water was murky, making it hard to see anything that wasn’t right in front of him, and his lungs were burning, desperate for air, so Derek swung and clawed in panic, just to get it to let them go enough that they could get air. 

It felt like forever, but it was likely just seconds, before it dashed off, and then Stiles was pulling him up, kicking hard as he swam. Derek swam too, disoriented and scared, but he followed Stiles and hoped they were going in the right direction. Then they finally breached the surface and could drag in deep lungfuls of air.

”Bank,” Stiles panted and started to swim, and Derek followed immediately. He wanted out of the water.

He thought he felt something brush his leg as he swam, and he yelped. Stiles looked at him, scared, but also like he would grab Derek the second anything tried to pull him down, like he would fight tooth and nails to keep him safe.

Nothing grabbed either of them though, but neither of them relaxed until they were out of the water completely.

”Jesus fucking _christ_ ,” Stiles said as he grabbed Derek’s hand and pulled him further from the water. ”Holy shit, what _was_ that?”

”Mermaid, I think,” Derek said, his breathing still hard. ”River mermaid, I thought they were extinct, I didn’t-, jesus, it almost got you.”

He grabbed Stiles by his shoulders and started to look him over, look for wounds, as the fear slammed into him for real. He almost _lost_ Stiles. They had only been married a few days, only a couple for a few years, and he almost lost him to a creature he thought was extinct when they were on their _honeymoon_.

”Hey, hey,” Stiles said softly and stepped closer, right up in Derek’s space, ”I’m fine, I’m okay, it didn’t hurt me, I’ll have a few bruises but I’m not injured, you got me, okay? You got me, I’m here and I’m okay.”

His hands were cradling Derek’s head, soft and gentle but sure and _there_ , and Derek hiccupped out a sob. He pulled Stiles closer, cradled his head too, pulled him in for a kiss, even as he squeezed his eyes shut against the tears. They still spilled, still leaked out, but Stiles was there, he was alive and okay and there, and he was kissing Derek back.

The kiss was desperate, scared, but it was Stiles, and Derek never wanted to stop. Stiles pulled back soon though, leaned his forehead against Derek’s, his hands still cradling Derek’s head.

”We’re okay,” he said and Derek nodded minutely, his eyes still closed.

”We’re okay,” Derek said. ”You’re okay.”

”I’m okay,” Stiles agreed, then he pulled back more and Derek opened his eye to look at him. He smiled softly. ”Hey, hubby.”

Derek snorted out a broken little laugh. ”Hey, hubby,” he said. He leaned in to press a kiss to Stiles' mouth, just a firm short kiss, then he pulled back to look at Stiles again. ”I love you, too, by the way.”

Stiles smiled widely. ”Good.”

They stood there another minute, just looking at each other, but then Stiles backed up and looked Derek over, and Derek realized he had been clawed. His clothes were torn in a few places, but all the wounds were healed, and when Stiles was satisfied that he was okay he tugged Derek with him and sat down on the ground, facing the water. Their little boat was upside down almost in the middle of the dam.

”Well, I’m not getting that,” Stiles said.

”Nope,” Derek agreed. He patted his pockets and found his phone that he grabbed. The plastic bag it was in was torn and there was a claw mark on the back of his phone. ”Yours?”

Stiles got his phone out, and his plastic bag was whole. He carelessly opened it and unlocked his phone. ”Chris?” he asked.

Derek nodded. ”Yeah.” Someone had to deal with the mermaid, and while Derek didn’t want to kill something he had thought was extinct, they couldn’t leave it, not when it attacked people. Chris wouldn’t be able to do much, but he had contacts, and he could get someone else to deal with it.

It was hours before they were back at their hotel. Chris had called someone, who had called someone, and so on, but a couple of hours after the attack someone came to them, where they were sitting miles from the closest road watching a boat bob upside down in the middle of a dam.

She introduced herself as Debra, then asked them questions about what had happened and what they had seen. When she was sure that it was a river mermaid she made some calls herself, and not an hour later there were divers out there, armed with tranquilizing guns, and a helicopter to fly the mermaid somewhere else.

As the divers worked on finding the creature, Debra arranged for their boat to be returned to the boat renting place, then she drove them to their hotel herself.

”What will happen to the mermaid now?” Derek asked in the car.

”They’ll try to communicate, they should be able to, find out if there are more here, then relocate them to somewhere safe, both for the mermaids’ safety and for the humans going canoeing here.” She shot him a smile. ”They won’t kill them.”

It all felt surreal. They were sitting on the little couch in their hotel room, freshly showered and in comfy clothes, cuddled up close together while waiting for room service. Derek had a hard time letting go of Stiles at all, and Stiles seemed to feel the same, so there was a lot of clinging and hand-holding and kisses.

”I changed my mind,” Stiles said, apropos of nothing, as he leaned his head on Derek’s shoulder and took his hand to brush a gentle kiss to it.

”Hm?” Derek asked.

”I don’t want to live by a river anymore,” Stiles said, and Derek laughed softly.

”No, I think the little creek we have in the preserve is plenty enough,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated =D ♥


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